The Labor enquirer., 1887-09-24

tnat beside MIN the landed lnObiIi-
ties of this and other countries
show but as pigmies, cares little \
or nothing for the possession Of
land; regards it an improbable
investment; grudges payment of
the taxes which even now land
owners have to bear. What wa,
see is that the Jew has concentrate
ed his attention on the money and
credit systems Of the various coun-
tries; that he has strained every
nerve to control the distribution
OF their products; that he has
thereby grown exceeding fat while
famine as persistently has follow
ed in his wake. This nauseating
fact thrusts itself up our nostrils
at every turn, but because we in
sist that it is a fact, and fact
that somehow or other must be
Fb33ghed, Mr.. Georges indigna-
8ig ainst us is great and he has
lsolemnly mathematical us as SUI
per6cial Yet if he aims at max
ing a record as man of action;
if he would weld the great produ-
cling masses of this country close
ly to him; if he would have them
take the bit in their mouths and
kick over thetraces of existing in
stitutions he must first find the gall
ed spot which is even now making
them vince. 1t is not so much
the original price paid for his
land that rouses the farmers soul
in arms as the consciousness that
the reward of his labor is fixed by
a handful of office gamblers play
ing with loaded dice. To which
Mr.. George simply makes answer
that if the monopoly in land were
abolished the middleman would
vanish into inocuous desuetude.
All this the farmer devoutly dis
believes. He may not have read
much but his own experience tells
him that his trouble is, not the
want of land, but the presence of
a grasping hand that seizes his
product on its journey to the con-
sumner and does not release its
grip until all that the traffic will
bear has been surrendered.
1t is one of the inconsistencies
in which the history of reform
abounds, that Mr.. George, whose
main argument is that men can
not be made good by act Of con-
gress-the laisseS 1aiye argument
resuscitated-should believe that
by the force of a single measure
the injustice and inequalities of
life can be removed. Whereas we
who loudly proclaim our lack of
faith in the adequacy of measures
and as loudly insist that these
evils can be remedied by the
adoption of an entirely different
philosophy of life, are branded as
shallow levelers-7enemies of lib
erty and individuality. Mr..
George, who never would have
had corporal's guard at his back
had not the Socialists forced with
an iron hand the social question
to the front, rides into prominence
on the strength of a measure first
advocated by fnancier Turgot,
whom the French Revolution was
thought to have buried, which
measure forms small fraction of
the teachings of Mill, Spencer and
Others who have partly divorced
themselves from the orthodox
economists. These with a few of
what blunt old Carlyle called the
"wretched spouters" of the bar
and pulpit represent his literary
backing. How is it with us7
1t has been we'll said that the
bourgeoisie erect monuments to
leading writers but that if they
read their works they would burn
them to ashes. The very men
whom have mentioned as with :
George in his doctrine of lap
values have declared for us tin
in their heterodoxy, though VERY